Upper Village of Moenkopi, Az – The Institute of American Indian Arts, Center for Lifelong Education headquartered in Santa Fe, New Mexico has partnered with the Moenkopi Legacy Inn & Suites and the Upper Village of Moenkopi to host a unique Cultural Tourism Conference on May 9-11, 2012. Conference Coordinator Ramus Suina says “This will be the eighth annual conference that the Center for Lifelong Education has staged and the first ever outside of New Mexico. This is an important event and a great opportunity for Native American tourism leaders from around the country to share and learn about the rich history and culture of many tribes. Every year we strengthen partnerships and collaborations to build and sustain tribal tourism.”

This year’s conference will be held at the beautiful Moenkopi Legacy Inn & Suites located in the Upper Village of Moenkopi, Western Gateway to Hopi. All attendees are invited to tour the Tribal lands of Arizona to experience the beauty, culture and hospitality of this spectacular region of Native America.

The famous Cherokee actor and director, Wes Studi, will be the keynote speaker at this year’s conference. Studi has appeared in well-received academy award-winning films, such as Kevin Costner’s Dances with Wolves, Michael Mann’s, The Last of the Mohicans (1992), the award-winning Geronimo: An American Legend (1993) and the Academy Award-nominated film The New World (2005). He most recently portrayed General Linus Abner (an analogue to the biblical Abner) in the NBC series Kings, and Eytukan in James Cameron’s box office blockbuster, Avatar.

Program topics include Building Tourism with Existing Assets ● Capacity Building to Strengthen Tribal State and Federal tourism Relationships ● Building Partnership to Strengthen and Sustain Tourism ● Building Successful Media Strategies to Sustain Cultural Tourism ● The Do’s and Don’ts to Effective Business & Marketing Plan ● Community Development: Business from a Community Perspective ● Hospitality and Customer Services from a Cultural Perspective ● Fundamentals of Securing Grant Funding

Upper Village of Moenkopi Governor William Charley says “Current unemployment on Hopi Land nears or exceeds 50% and similar circumstances face much of Indian Country and rural America. The Cultural Tourism Conference will provide a variety of workshop venues, regional tours, and hands-on training to inform tribal and community members of opportunities and resources designed to stimulate local economic development. This is a very important gathering for Hopi and tribal members across Arizona and the entire country.”

If you are thinking about visiting the Hopi Reservation, I would encourage you to go with a reputable Hopi tour company. One of these companies is Hopi Tours, which is led by Hopi anthropologist Micah Loma’omvaya. As I read about Hopi Tours on-line, I learned that the company has been giving tours on Hopi lands since 1540!

Of course, this was the year that Spanish conquistador Pedro de Tovar and a small group of soldiers, a few Zuni guides, and a Franciscan priest, came across the Hopi people on Antelope Mesa. After a bloody fight, and a “tour” of the villages on First Mesa, the Hopis promptly directed the Spaniards to go west toward the Grand Canyon. The Hopis did not want these “tourists” sticking around.

Today, tourism plays a very important economic role on the Hopi Reservation and it provides Hopis with opportunities to share their culture with visitors. For more information about upcoming tours, including a special book tour on Hopi Summer by Carolyn O’Bagy Davis, please download the following brochures: Hopi Tours 2011 Brochure Rates / Book Tours Hopi Summer 2011

About the author

Matthew Sakiestewa Gilbert is enrolled with the Hopi Tribe from the village of Upper Moencopi in northeastern Arizona. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of History and a Dean's Fellow and Conrad Humanities Scholar in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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